Russian news outlets falsely claim Swedish military instructors were killed in Poltava missile strike

What's happened?

On September 3, 2024, two Russian missiles struck a military institute and a nearby hospital in the city of Poltava in central Ukraine. The military institute targeted by the attack was the Poltava Military Institute of Communications, which trains officers in communications and electronics, as well as drone operators. 

At least 51 people were killed in the attack, and 271 others were injured, according to Ukrainian authorities, who said military personnel were among the dead. This makes it one of the deadliest Russian attacks during the war.

What's being claimed?

On the day of the attack, several pro-Russian social media accounts and Russian news outlets reported that Swedish military trainers were killed in the attack. 

An X (formerly known as Twitter) post seen 349,000 times in less than 24 hours claimed that Swedish personnel were there to instruct the Ukrainian army to use the two Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASC 890) aircraft provided to them in Sweden's latest support package, which was announced in late May 2024. The X user claimed the deaths had been confirmed by a foreign volunteer named Britta Ellwanger. 

"Today in Poltava my close friend died," reads a supposed screenshot from Ellwanger's Facebook page. "They had been helping the Ukranian guys for several months already… Rest in peace, darling. I don't know how many of ours exactly died, but we will always remember you guys…"

Screenshots of X posts (archived here, here, here). Source: X/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

Argumenty i Fakty, a weekly newspaper based in Moscow, also references Britta Ellwanger in an article (archived here), stating her Facebook post was quoted in a Russian Telegram group for military news. 

The claim also appears in an article by the Russian disinformation network Pravda, published on a Swedish-language version of the site (archived here).

What we found

While Sweden's leading news publications, such as the public broadcaster SVT, have covered the attack in Poltava, none have reported any Swedish casualties. Furthermore, an online search with related Swedish keywords yields no results from credible media institutions.

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Logically Facts that there are currently no reports that any Swedish citizens have been hurt or killed in the attack.

At present, Swedish troops, like those of other EU countries, do not train Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian territory, and a request from Kyiv to consider training soldiers inside the country has been met with resistance from many member states of the bloc.

Britta Ellwanger, Ukraine Relief Project Director at the U.S.-registered nonprofit organization For Peace, has published a post on X and Facebook stating that she did not write the Facebook post currently circulating in her name. 

Screenshot of Ellwanger's X post. (Source: X/Screenshot)

This X account is linked to her "About" page on the For Peace website, making it clear she is the person behind the X account. Logically Facts also found her Facebook page, which, at the time of writing, does not contain a Facebook post like the one in the screenshot.

"Must be doing something right"

Speaking to Logically Facts, Ellwanger said that the fake post has bearings to a real one published on the Day of Remembrance of Ukraine's Defenders on August 29, 2024, where Ellwanger wrote about the toll of the war on small Ukrainian communities and the loss of local Ukrainian soldiers.

Ellwanger has been active in war relief through the NGO For PEACE since the start of Russia's invasion and has lived in Ukraine for 10 years. 

"I rarely interact with other internationals here in Ukraine and certainly am not connected to any Swedish aid groups either providing humanitarian or nonlethal military aid," Ellwanger clarified. "I interact with and work among Ukrainians. So in this regard, it is odd to attempt to use my identity – and that is where the misinformation attempt is weakest." 

"Amongst us on the ground involved in supporting Ukraine and Ukrainians during this time," she added, "the saying is that you must be doing something right if you get targeted by Russian bots or misinformation."

Logically Facts has also contacted the Swedish military for comment.

The verdict

There have been no official reports from Sweden's government or its military about any Swedish instructors having been killed in the Poltava missile attack, and Britta Ellwanger has denied making such a claim. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.